Find a friend with this book

MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche chronicles the attempt by Bertsche to make new close girlfriends in her adopted hometown of Chicago. After moving there for a relationship, she found herself without any close friends like those she had growing up, in college, and in New York City. She decides to spend a year focusing on making new friends, with the goal of making 4-5 close, good friends. She starts going on “girl dates” every week. Finding how she meets these people, attempts conversation, and learns about what makes a good friend is interesting, sometimes awkward, and often sweet. Her desire to really, truly have a new best friend is often her biggest downfall; people can sense the desperation.

This book is a very interesting look into the lives of a very particular set of people: mostly white, urban, highly educated, professional women. However, the basic lessons and crises at the center of the story are relatable to many women post grad. When you lose the structure of school, have a busy career, and move away from your old friends, how do you make new ones? How do you break into a new place? These themes, and those of loneliness, connection, and the importance of female friendship, are the real core of this search. It can be hard to read at times because it does hit very close to home for anyone who has felt lonely at some point.

The gimmick of friend dates does get repetitive and it is hard to keep track of the girls after a while, but the research Bertsche has done into friendship and what makes a good friend is always intriguing and keeps the reader engaged. This is a more serious and heartwarming book than it may seem, and a good choice for post-grads trying to figure out how to build and maintain solid friendships as adults.